My 56 years of fitness in a nutshell --
Birth to 30's - thin, healthy, no exercise, hated gym, never did sports, heavy smoker, no health issues besides migraines.
30's - had a full blown gym in my house but really didn't enjoy it so over the years I sold all the equipment.
40's - thryoid and old lady hormones packed on some flab but everything else pretty much the same. After boyfriend's 2nd heart attack we took up walking and did alot of it.
50 - quit smoking, walked obsessively, got way too thin, but still felt great.
53 - trained and finished a marathon (mostly walking and jogging but still thrilled to finish at around 7 hrs), weight up and down, healthy all in all.
55 - did a 4 month Fitness Challenge at the Y. Thought I would die in the beginning but I ended up winning the challenge and got 7 awards. I was pretty proud of myself considering I had never really worked out like that. And out of 30+ people I was 3rd or 4th oldest.
56 - currently I'm taking around 4 classes per week at the gym a block from my house. Never thought I would take classes but I'm enjoying them - kickboxing, classic aerobics, yoga, etc, and 1 hard core fusion class that really kicks my a$$ every Monday. They also have the full array of Curve's type equipment that I enjoy using. There are 4 floors worth of equipment and a running track. I'm not your typical social gym rat so other than the classes I tend to use the after hours floor in the middle of the night if I want to use a treadmill or bike, or I use the women's only floor which is less crowded. I never use the weight room. It's too hard core.
At home I have some dvd's, hand weights, ankle/wrist weights, resistance bands, weighted hula hoop.
Since January 1st I've also been doing what I call my 250's every single day - 200 crunches (various kinds) plus some push ups, planks, and bridges.
My goal is to work out around 20 hours a month consistently.
I love to cook and love all kinds of food, healthy or otherwise, so I just have to watch my portions and control the carbs (serious threat of inheriting diabetes).

I am still fighting 10-15 pounds of flab so I thought I'd pop in here and see what others are doing.
(sorry that was so long and super boring)

Originally Posted by jeepcurlygurl

Wow, how inspiring! I'm almost 40 and have gone up and down in weight since I had my daughter at the age of 18. Im only 5'1" so I feel like evey pound shows. You have managed to keep moving and keeping your weight in check one way or another most of your life....i hope I will do the same!